Put on your magic sunglasses and look at the day in a whole new way.

According to AccuWeather meteorologist Kyle Elliot, “June gloom refers to a band of low clouds and fog, known as the marine layer, that develops on an almost daily occurrence within a few miles of the southern California coastline during the overnight and morning hours,” (AccuWeather.com, 2024). This weather phenomenon can occur in any month, but it is at its most persistent from May to September, and it can stretch deep into So Cal’s inland recesses. Out here, where it’s hot and dry, we experience “May Gray” and “June Gloom” until that ridiculous dome of high pressure parks its ass on our face. Usually, I’m all for that kind of fun time, but when it comes to the weather, I’d rather not burn. The gray mornings in June extend the life of our cool temps for just a few extra hours in the day, but they are a blessing. The marine layer was in full effect for most of May and June ‘round here, but in these past couple of weeks, the days have sizzled, and the nights haven’t brought much relief.

My June wasn’t gloomy like the weather. This is one of my favorite months of the year. I get to celebrate my wedding anniversary in June. The kids (and my teacher wife) begin their summer break this month, so the overall mood of the house improves. Folks are more carefree. Of course, Father’s Day is in June, and the family gives me extra special treatment. Things at my day job pick up a bit in June, which means more work and faster turnaround times to complete a project, but the increased workload also makes the days go by more quickly. It’s a blessing and a curse.

June marks the mathematical halfway point in the MLB season (versus the symbolic halfway point at the All-Star game). The “let’s see what we got with our squad” courting period of the season is well and done. By this point, teams know who they are, what they need to make a championship run, or what they need to sell off to prepare for next season because they’re not contenders this year. If you haven’t heard, the L.A. Dodgers (my team) picked up this Japanese born player who is a god among men. “Average” and “power” are part of his DNA, and it has been unbelievable to watch him rake through the first half.

Unfortunately, as much fun as it has been to watch the Dodgers play ball, it’s been an exercise in trying to ignore the wart covered toad that was my Lakers month of June. It ended on a slightly better note than how it began—salvaged by a first round NBA draft pick steal by the Purple and Gold—but some shit went down that dumped a heap more gloom on LaLa Land than your average June.

The Triple Frown

The Lakers and their fans were smacked with a triple threat this month: embarrassment, pain, and anger. The first slap across the face was getting rejected by Dan Hurley.

Damn Daniel.

I shared my thoughts about this blunder and the state of the franchise over the last decade in an article from earlier in the month, and I’ve softened my perspective on it a bit since then. I still believe that the reason why the Lakers have been so inconsistent since Dr. Jerry Buss died is because of Jim and Jeanie and their collectively bad hires and itchy trigger fingers, which have led to problems throughout the franchise that cascade down from the front office to the front court. However, I don’t think that not bagging Hurley is 100% on the team’s management. Yes, they could have given Hurley an absolutely bonkers contract and immediately made him the top one, two, or three paid coached in the Association (I kind of thought this is what they were going to do), but they would have been mocked for giving a first-time NBA head coach so much money when the track record for college coaches transitioning into the NBA hasn’t been great. It’s a big risk, but scared money doesn’t make money. That’s the second time the Lakers have let a coach slip through their fingers like this in the last five years. Not a good look, but the other part to this is that I don’t think Dan Hurley really wanted to leave the East Coast. His dad gets to watch him coach. His family is

comfortable there. He said it himself.

The money it would have taken to pry him away from that would have been ludicrous, and he might not have liked it much because his heart wasn’t completely in it if he only did it for the money. Then, the Lakers front office would have looked stupid for giving him so much money. This might have been a blessing in disguise for the Lakers. Oh, wait! Rob Pelinka is still the general manager. He went and hired JJ Redick to coach the Lakers. We know he doesn’t have any coaching experience at the NBA level—not as an assistant coach, assistant coach to the assistant coach, shooting coach, G-League coach—nada.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that sometimes a situation that appears bad ends up okay. Sometimes it ends up being awesome. Hiring JJ Redick to be the 29th head coach of the Lakers (23rd since 2011!) in favor of any of the other possible candidates with actual NBA coaching experience, most as a head coach, appears to be bad move by a front office without much capital in the Bank of Trust. These days, it’s hard for us Lakers fans to believe in a silver lining.

The second gut punch was losing Jerry West. He was the best executive the Association ever had; he was the best general manager in Lakers franchise history; and he was also a Hall of Fame Player for the Purple and Gold. There’s no Showtime without him, and there’s no Kobe/Shaq/Phil triangle without him. The Lakers don’t even get Pau Gasol without Jerry West. He left his mark on the franchise as a player and GM, and he left his logo on the Association. May he rest in peace.

The third kick to the nuts was the Celtics winning their 18th NBA title, moving them out of a tie with the Lakers for the most in NBA history. They dominated this season. Good for them.  At least Jerry wasn’t alive to see it happen.

The Lakers had a great first round of the 2024 NBA draft to close out June and officially begin the 2024-2025 offseason. They caught some heat for drafting Bronny James in the second round because of “nepotism” and the fact that he didn’t have even a decent season in college last year, the only year he played college hoops. After their second round pick was made, Rob Pelinka came out and said that they made this pick because of the historic nature of it; no father and son have played NBA basketball together, ever. Concessions have been made to other NBA players in which their siblings have been drafted or their family members have been hired on as staff, so why not give an all-timer like LeBron the chance to hoop with his son.

“Because it’s a waste of a pick, Nick!”

Well, second round picks are usually all developmental projects, and they rarely make an NBA roster, so what real damage did the Lakers do other than more or less guarantee LeBron resigns with them and gets to play his last year or two of professional basketball happily with junior?

“Nikola Jokic was a second round pick!”

Yeah, and every once in a blue moon, a dude like that comes around. The wild thing about drafts is that people don’t know who will rise to the top and who will sink like a rock until we see the players play, and a player’s success has almost as much to do with which team they land on as it does with their talent. So, chill, papa.

Dads

Shout out to all the dads who are active in their children’s lives. Sometimes it doesn’t work out with the missus, but that doesn’t stop you from being there for your kiddos. My parents got divorced when I was six, and my younger brother and I only got to visit our dad once a year because we lived far from each other, no less than 400 miles away when we all still lived in California. He started a new family not long after the divorce and had our youngest brother with his new wife a few years later. It was a little weird at first, but life moved on. He did his best to make our time with him memorable every summer we spent at his place. He was not a great role model, but I never felt like he didn’t love me and my brother. A lot of what he did and didn’t do as a dad helped shape my vision for the type of dad that I wanted to be one day if I was lucky enough to become one. He’s been gone now for three years, but his memory lives on every day, and especially on Father’s Day.

Shout out to all the step-dads out there, too. I wanted to distinguish this group of dudes simply to acknowledge that your role is slightly different from a biological father’s role, and I think it makes being a step-dad more challenging. Some of my bros and friends are step-dads. Hats off to you gents. My younger brother and I were blessed with a step-dad who provided for us and taught us a few things about a few things. He was a good dude who probably should’ve chilled out a bit more from time to time. I think he would’ve enjoyed life more if he wasn’t so uptight, but that’s how it went. He’s been gone for a decade. He never got to meet some of his grandchildren. That would have been cool for him to experience.

We’ve turned the page from spring to summer, and the dog days will be on us soon. They bring with them the prospect of football, collegiate and professional, and hopefully more fun summer memories with the crew. 

Debate of the Dead

We deserve better choices than Biden and Trump. We won’t have more viable options because the Democans and Republicrats have a stranglehold on the system, but can we get two people who are younger than 60, cognitively capable of speaking full sentences and answering actual questions, and who want to serve the people and not themselves? I know, it is too much to ask because there’s too much money to be made to actually but the welfare of “regular” people at the forefront of policy.  Instead, we get Round 2 of Octogenarian Thunderdome. Have at it.